


Study Buddies (Science Bros 2.0) in Wakanda.

by Shaye_K_Spears



Category: Black Panther (2018), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:33:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27686303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaye_K_Spears/pseuds/Shaye_K_Spears
Summary: When Peter Parker goes with Tony Stark to the newly opened Wakanda, he has no idea who he is about to meet... Likewise, Princess Shuri has no idea that her world is going to be turned upside-down by a strange white American boy from Queens...
Relationships: Peter Parker & Shuri
Comments: 9
Kudos: 78





	1. A Stark shift in fortune.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction, and I wanted to challenge myself by writing without an outline. Please comment your advice below!

# PETER

It was a lovely spring day. The sun was out, the birds were chirping, Queens was bustling, and even the sound of Miss Geraldine's sharp voice seemed softer than usual. Or maybe that was just Peter filtering it out.   
Peter Parker was an awkward, nerdy 16 year old who attended a Science High school for overachievers. And overachieve he did. Besides studying maths that would have put Albert Einstein to shame, in his spare time, Peter was an intern at Stark industries- the biggest former-weapons-manufacturer-now-turned-new-science-producer in the world. 

Except, he wasn't an intern at Stark. At least, not in that way. You see, Stark industries was not only a global technological superpower, but was also a direct investor into the real superpowers of the world- Superheroes.   
Late in 2008, the billionaire owner of Stark industries, Tony Stark, came forward and said that it was he who was the unknown hero in the iron suit, flying around and fighting corrupt personalities with their evil visions. It went down… well. Mostly. After a couple of world-threatening events in a row, Tony Stark and his band of superpowered friends had a falling out about their responsibilities as protectors of humanity, and that's where Peter came in. Long story short, Peter had a lot of powerful allies- one of them being Tony Stark. And that brings us to today. 

"Peter!", an abnormally shrill voice enunciated. Oh, right. Miss Geraldine.   
Peter, jolted out of his wandering thoughts, blurted out a very loud "29! It's 29, right?".   
Half of the class that wasn't also daydreaming stared at him judgmentally, mostly smirking. A gaggle of girls in the back of the classroom were giggling and occasionally squawking amongst themselves. Peter's friend Ned, who was sitting next to him, tried frantically to mime Miss Geraldine's former question. Ned's mime technique involved a lot of small, complex, and unidentifiable hand gestures, which, as he had previously explained to Peter, were supposedly based on a mixture of JSL, gang signs and US army signals. In any case, it didn’t help.   
“Peter!! Are you listening!?”  
If Peter’s head had swung back to Miss Geraldine with any more force than he already used, he would have snapped his neck. MJ, that weird girl who sat diagonal to Peter, snorted with derision as she looked up from her permanently curved position around her sketchbook. Peter decided that to avoid even more embarrassment, he might as well come out with it- he had no idea what was going on.   
“I’m sorry Miss Geraldine-” he started, but was soon cut off by the teacher saying, “It’s alright, Peter. Just go to the front desk to sign out of school. Some secretary from Stark Industries is here to collect you.”.   
Ned’s convoluted hand gestures had slowed to a stop, and his eyes were wide, as he tried to contain his excitement. Peter, suddenly hopped up on endorphins, jostled out of his seat passionately and nervously stuffed all of his belongings in his bag. After a quick farewell to the class (which nobody but Ned reciprocated), Peter half-ran to the front desk of the school to see Happy Hogan, the “secretary” and best friend of Tony Stark, chatting up the nurse at the school infirmary.   
“Happy!” Peter stage-whispered, trying unsuccessfully to curb his inflating expectations for the purpose of their meeting. Happy turned around, disgruntled and annoyed that Peter had interrupted his bumbling flirting at the obviously disinterested women putting away asthma pumps and bandaids. “What are you doing, kid?” Happy exclaimed. “You were supposed to be here five minutes ago!”  
“Sorry Happy,” Peter said, sincere but trying to angle for an explanation: “You know how it is sometimes… Anyway, wha-”   
“Tony’s in the car, ready to explain everything. I assume your guardian has been informed. Ready to go?” Happy sighed.   
Peter flushed with a strange mix of emotions, trying his best to play it cool and to not run down the hallway like his bum was on fire. Tony Stark was a… polarizing figure, but allies and enemies alike could agree that wherever he went, adventure was sure to follow. Soul-crushing, deathly dangerous adventure, but adventure nonetheless. 

After signing out of class, Peter exited the school building with Happy, who was meticulously scanning the school parking lot, making sure no paparazzi were nearby. They approached the side of the road, near all of the school buses. An old, bashed up white van pulled up next to them, and Peter was surprised when they started towards it. Sure enough, as soon as they approached a sensible distance, the van's side door opened revealing a well-dressed man lounging inside. Happy walked around to the driver's door and gestured for Peter to step inside. Peter hesitantly entered the van, which, while by his bank account was opulent, seemed a major downgrade from Tony Stark’s normal high-tech limousines.   
“Not what you were expecting, am I right?”

Peter turned to face Tony Stark, or, as he had become better known nowadays, Iron Man.   
“Hello Mr Stark!”, Peter said, trying not to sound star struck (yet again). Although he had met Tony a few times since their first meeting a couple of years ago, Stark’s reputation still awed Peter whenever they met.   
Tony smirked, and turned back to face the front.

“Don’t be disappointed, kid. This is just so we can go incognito. We’re getting the real stuff at the airport.”.   
Peter’s eyes opened wide. “The airport? But-”   
“Didn’t Happy tell you everything was taken care of?” Tony said, impatient.   
“Y-yes”, Peter stuttered, “..but he didn’t tell me why. Or anything, really, besides, you know, that some Spiderman stuff was gonna go down…”.   
Tony looked back at Peter from under his blue glasses he had started to wear, and gave a knowing, extremely arrogant yet somehow fatherly smile.   
“Well kid, let’s cut the crap. You’re going to Wakanda.”  
At this the already bewildered Peter felt like his head was going to explode from the amount of questions pressuring him, and, noticing this, Tony continued,  
“We’re going to Wakanda because I need to try and get some of that vibranium that they have there, maybe talk to King T’challa if I can and set up some sort of trading deal with Stark industries.”  
At this point Tony saw Peter trying to butt in with questions and continued; “I thought you might want to come help. Unless you... don’t?”

“NO!!” Peter said, quickly. “I would love to go, Mr Stark, I really would love to go to- to Wakanda, but how am I gonna help you? I mean, I’m still in high school.”

Tony smirked that arrogant grin once again.   
“Still stuck on homework?” he said. “Kid, you fought Captain America and won- don’t talk yourself down.” 

Peter smiled, warmed up from praise, and said that, yeah, he’d like to go. After all, why wouldn’t he? There was this amazing chance to examine this new technology- every scientist’s dream. He had heard all about Vibranium (the mysterious, highly durable metal in abundance in Wakanda- known in America mostly for being the metal of Captain America’s shield) since King T’Challa decided to unveil the truth about Wakanda earlier this year. It was all anybody could talk about! Peter found it fascinating.   
He was perhaps even more excited about the fact that Tony had chosen him for this amazing new venture. Him. Over the thousands of other worthier candidates. 

Him. Peter Parker. 

He was going to change the world.


	2. Time is just a concept.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuri realizes that she is late to an important meeting involving a white billionare from America and his two sidekicks.

# SHURI

  
Shuri woke up on the floor of the lab, cuddling a mannequin clad in a mesh-like black suit modelled around the shape of a panther, a sacred animal with much symbolism in Wakanda. Shuri was experimenting with the different densities vibranium could hold when mixed with other metals, and had used european knights from the middle ages as inspiration. Shuri herself was wearing her clothes from yesterday- nothing special, just a white-and-blacklight-blue skirt and top combo, with faded chemical formulas drawn on in their chequered, light-blue paint. Shuri’s braids had managed to fall out of their hasty up-do, haphazardly constructed by her the morning before, and were complemented by her bleary-eyed expression, but she still managed to look effortlessly stylish.  
A Dora Milaje- the reason that Shuri had woken up- was standing over her and talking about some billionaire American and his entourage arriving soon. Shuri faintly remembered something about having to be there when it happens. Groaning faintly, groggy and wanting a sleep in, Shuri pushed herself off the ground with the help of the unfortunate mannequin next to her, and tried to listen to the king's guard in front of her.  
“... and you’re very late”, the woman finished. Shuri perked up, not perky exactly, but like a shot of electricity had made its way through her body. Her mother was going to kill her, of that Shuri had no doubt.  
"Quickly," she said, "in which room are the guests to be greeted in? They have landed, right?".  
The Dora Milaje quickly nodded her head. "They're in the main hall."  
The main hall of the splendourous Bast palace was an architectural marvel and adorned with decorative technology that would have been twenty years in the making for the rest of the world, but to Shuri seemed a little outdated. She understood what her brother was trying to do, greeting guests in this room- he wanted to dazzle them, while also letting them know how dangerous Wakanda can be if you betray it. Good plan. Unfortunately, Shuri didn't think she could really help dazzle anybody in this state, or look particularly dangerous either.

A few minutes later, a still unkempt and extremely late Shuri tried to slither in to the main hall, in which her family were addressing some of the colonisers they had just flown in. Shuri's absence and subsequent appearance was not lost on her brother, however. Within a couple of seconds of Shuri's arrival, T'Challa called her over: "and… Oh, and my sister finally found fit to join us.".  
Shuri abruptly came to join her brother, positioning herself as far away from her mother, and subsequent motherly retribution, as possible.  
"Sorry Brother," she pleaded, still panting after her run, "I was working on the possible Vibranium and Copper mixtures last night, and it took longer than I had originally anticipated.".  
"Well, you're here now. I won't chastise you for that.", T'Challa laughed. "This is my little sister, Princess Shuri,", the king explained. He then gestured to the men in front of him. "Shuri, this is Mr Tony Stark," he said, drawing Shuri's attention to the slight man leading the gang. Tony Stark, the billionaire tech genius (well, thought Shuri, "genius" is a relative word…), was wearing a custom suit that suited his thin, but muscular physique, and blue glasses resting on his nose that seemed like they served a far greater purpose than just cosmetic. However, T'Challa drew her attention away before she could analyze the glasses too much.  
"This is Happy Hogan," T'Challa said, gesturing to the large but squat man with a short, messy beard that looked like it may drop off of his face at any moment. He seemed to have a bit of an ego, like his more powerful friend, but unlike Tony Stark, didn't seem to be as much of a threat as he probably thought he was. T'Challa directed Shuri's attention to the left of Mr Stark- "and Peter Parker." A young white man to the right hesitantly waved at Shuri, and quickly put his hand down after a few seconds. He had brown hair and brown eyes, uncomfortably wearing a black suit which seemed like it should have been worn to one of those American school dances. He looked like he should feel extremely out of place, and initially it seemed like he was- however, as he looked around at the hall, whispering calculations under his breath while his eyes widened looking at all of Shuri's creations, he seemed to relax, like going off into a happy place. Shuri had never related to a person through just one look, but she completely understood this.  
And it scared her. For reasons unknown to her, this young man, who was probably younger than she was, scared her.

"Peter Parker is going to be observing your work while Tony Stark and Happy join me for a conference."  
Shuri looked at T'Challa, still shook by this chance reaction, was trying to maintain her natural cool, calm demeanor, and gave a quick affirmation to get him off her back. 

"Sounds good, brother."  
"Excellent. You will start tomorrow, in the lab. Okoye, would you mind assisting these men to their rooms?"  
Suddenly, the importance of these men started to sink in. Okoye? The head of the king's guard, personally assisting these men to their rooms? They must be either a great asset to Wakanda… or a threat. And Shuri had to find out which.  
She knew, of course, that if these men were an actual worry, that the Black Panther, the king's guard, the army of Wakanda, could take them out swiftly and efficiently, if need be. Nonetheless…

Shuri had to keep an eye on them, see what they would do. She just had to wait. For tomorrow, at least.


	3. A princess and a student walk into a tech lab...

# PETER II

Peter woke up in a splendorous guest room three times the size of his and Aunt May's entire apartment, and smiled in amazement at the incredible turn his week had taken. He still had conflicting emotions about it, let that be known, but he had always been very excited about the prospect of coming to Wakanda, the new hub of technology. Of course, that excitement had really only started that year, when King T'Challa had taken over his father's place as ruler, and decided to tell the full truth about Wakanda, the "poor farming nation" of Africa. Before then, Peter wanted to visit China, Germany, Japan or Singapore- science hubs each. 

On the other hand, though, Peter was abandoning school, his friends and May very quickly, and he couldn't help but feel as though he should have stayed in Queens, to stay on top of homework if nothing else. All guilty thoughts disappeared, though, when he remembered his itinerary for the day. He was going to be working with the king's sister, on what, he couldn't be sure. For all of Mr Stark's assurances that he was bringing Peter along for "appearances'', and wanted him purely for his scientific brain, something about that explanation just didn't sit right with Peter. He believed that he might have been brought along to do something with his special abilities… but he couldn't be sure.   
Anyway, that's enough theorising, Peter thought. It's not a big conspiracy. Plus, I should just focus on the task at hand. Finding the way to the lab. 

After he had dressed in what he hoped was "appropriate clothing" for meeting a Wakandan Princess, while also working with her in a science lab (this mostly consisted of his normal day-to-day pants and shirt, although he did try to smooth down his hair a little), he stepped outside of his room, and came face to face with a woman in armour, bald, and carrying an electric spear.  
"Um.. Hello." said Peter. Something about her clothing sparked Peter's memory, and he desperately tried to remember the name of her position.   
"Oh, you're a, uh, Dora Minaj right?"   
The warrior raised an eyebrow critically. "Dora Milaje. I have been sent to accompany you to the lab."  
Peter felt a wave of relief washing over him. It wasn't that he thought she was here to kill him (though he had no doubt that she definitely could if she wanted to), it was that he had just now put thought into the how of getting to the lab, instead of what he would do once he arrived there.   
Peter smiled, and thanked the Dora Milaje for coming to help him. She just nodded, and started walking brusquely down the hall. Peter had to jog slightly to keep up. As they proceeded down the long corridors, Peter once again marvelled at the architecture of the palace. The room he had slept in as well as the main hall and most places he had visited yesterday seemed to be modelled after mud and wood houses, (really good insulation) but they were scaled up, and had been painted white to accentuate the simple sheets of painted vibranium that hung on the walls. There was a glass ceiling in many parts of the palace, and when there wasn't, natural light was simulated by complex lighting schemes that were hidden under the mud-brick of the walls. There was a lot of colourful pieces of art- sculptures, bright tapastries- mixed in with the technology, and Peter couldn't have told you the first thing about either of these without seeming stupid and uneducated.   
The Dora Milaje turned a corner and Peter tried to muffle his gasp of delight when she led him into one of the coolest labs he had ever been in- equal to only Tony Stark's. It was a black room, not like the walls were painted black, but as if they were glowing with dark colours, all combined to make this shade without any darkness involved. The floor was a spotless white mass that matched the off-white and greyish colour palates of the furniture, accentuated occasionally by ripples of purple holograms popping up from the ground to be moved or disapperated by people at will. Dotted around the room were working benches, some static, and some hovering above the ground to be moved wherever. In the centre of this space, a white ramp spiralled up and out of the lab, also providing undercover working spaces and orderly storage room beneath the walking path. Near this ramp were mannequins of different shapes and sizes, draped in shimmering chain-mails of what seemed like differing weights- some mannequins looked like, well, mannequins, while others looked half-squashed and were in danger of toppling over.  
The Dora Milaje had stopped walking by now, and was going to her new post by the laboratory doors. Peter turned, as if he were to follow her, and then realized that was probably a stupid move, and stopped in his tracks.   
There was a rustling behind one of the mannequins, and the young woman that Peter had seen the other night making a lambastick late entrance unsuccessfully tried to shuffle out from under a mountain of different papers, swatches, and metal shaping implements.   
"Do you need help?", asked Peter, so consciously aware of his tinny voice.  
The girl- was she called She-Ra?- noticed Peter in the corner, (I probably look like a creep, thought Peter self consciously), and fought for her hand to reach above the mound of metal, gesturing for him to stay away.   
"I have this totally under control!", she said. She had a cool accent, Peter noted. Enunciated everything, turns the T's into D's, rolling her R's. Much nicer than his own.   
"Uh, ok!" said Peter.   
The king's sister finished fighting with her pile of mess, and turned around.   
"Now,", she said, "what do you want?".


	4. A quick introduction.

# SHURI II

The new boy who had just been led into the room was shuffling on his feet, seemingly nervous at either learning about Shuri's inventions, or learning from Shuri. He looked like he was always trying to avoid fidgeting with his clothing, but sometimes succumbed to it, twisting the bottom of his white t-shirt (with a science meme printed on it- Shuri approved) around his fingertips. Shuri tried to safely and quickly put her implements away, and realized the improbability of the task when her iron clamps wouldn't release from the rubber-vibranium alloy on the mannequin. She tugged a couple more times, and then decided to move on and pack up the silver tubing. Unfortunately, in her impatience, Shuri decided to tug the tubing, and due to gravity, the mannequin to which the tubing was absentmindedly attached fell on her. 

"Do you need help?" she heard a tentative voice behind her say. Shuri, struggling under the pressure of keeping various things from dropping on the floor, said, completely untruthfully, "I have this completely under control!", while the neutron regulator slipped from her grasp. "Uh, ok", said the new kid in his American accent. Shuri quickly decided that diplomacy had to take priority in these situations, and shoved most of what she was holding (except for the mannequin) into a tray nearby. "Now," Shuri said, trying her best to saunter out of her mess to greet him, "what do you want?". The new kid blinked, and said, "Well, um, your highness… "

"It's Shuri. Not 'your highness'.", Shuri said. "Just because I was born into this family and these traditions, doesn't mean that I should be treated any differently than any other kid you would normally speak to. You are my age, right? 15?". "Y-yeah," he said, a slow grin appearing on his face. "So… you're a royal anti-monarchist?"

Shuri hesitated, thinking about telling him about all of the crazy stuff that went down within the royal family the year before. She decided against spilling her guts to this stranger, and instead just rolled her eyes, huffing a little, and trying to sound chastising. The kid in the dad-joke science shirt just smiled bashfully, and said, "Sorry. I'm Peter. It's been nice talking with you, Shuri." There was a moment of some silent understanding that flittered between them- of what, Shuri couldn't pin down- and then it was gone, only leaving vestiges of goodwill between them. 

"Um, do you, uh, know what we have to do? Mr Stark- doesn't like explaining things." Peter said.  
Shuri shook her head.  
"No idea," she said plainly. "There were some vague instructions about you being my student. I don't know, and, knowing my brother, he'll probably be too busy to tell me."  
Shuri had decided that against her former judgement (that Stark and his billionaire cohort were untrustworthy), she liked Peter. He seemed nice, humble, and willing to learn… whatever she was supposed to be teaching. Shuri still had her suspicions against his group, of course, but it seemed as though she didn't really want to listen to that particular rational all of a sudden. 

She saw Peter again in thought. 

"Just ask me questions if you want," Shuri said, trying to look nonchalant.  
Peter seemed to brighten slightly, still awkward in his new surroundings, but less so than earlier.  
"Is that a ribosome expander?" he said, pointing to the printer-like object on a nearby table.  
Shuri tried to mask her surprise. "Close!", she said, "it's a protein synthesizer scaled up. A prototype of course."  
She saw Peter starting to head over to it, then look at her expectantly.  
"Go on,", Shuri said, walking over to the table herself. Peter joined her, and said, "Who made this? It's… incredible."  
Shuri felt a swell of pride in her chest.  
"My friend Yusta made it. I mean, I had to help her out a little with the links, but… well, look."  
Shuri placed what looked like a meat sack on the scales beneath the large box that was the protein synthesizer.  
"Press the button,", she said to Peter, gesturing to a large, triangular indention on the side of the instrument.  
Peter eagerly, but softly, placed his fingertips on the triangle. The border of the triangle briefly glowed a dark orange, and then the meat bag beneath it shuddered, and expanded slightly.  
"And before you ask, no, it doesn't just concentrate air into the goat meat to puff it up," Shuri said. "It actually adds on layers of biological meat. We based it on…"  
"Pym particles", Peter breathed. "But I thought that only Dr Hank Pym could make it?"  
Shuri grinned, happy to be blowing somebody's mind yet again, and shook her head.  
"Come on,", she said, " I want to show you something.".


	5. Thoughts of a one Mr Spidey Man.

# PETER III

Peter couldn't believe his eyes. Wakanda was amazing! But, what had he expected- anything less?  
If Peter had been honest with himself, he would have admitted that to be true.  
He had seen the few photos and videos of Wakanda that had been released to the international press- everybody had. One photo in particular, a landscape view of the futuristic city at sunset, had briefly trended on Twitter when somebody paired it with a previous "photo" of poor Wakandan villagers (released in King T'Chaka's reign) and posted it under the hashtag, #mebeforeandaftertheGOTfinale.

However, not many people had actually seen Wakanda with their own eyes, and conspiracy theories abounded about this mysterious new paradise- was it actually just a strange American smear job on Tanzania (The latest enemy of Uncle Sam)? A prank gone wrong? An alien threat? (That last one wasn't really a conspiracy theory anymore as much as an accepted and extremely possible train of thought held by many.)  
In any case, central Africa wasn't really internationally recognised for its distinguished and high class scientific and economic cultures. But Peter had a feeling, as he followed the King's sister, Shuri, down to the back of the lab, that those preconceptions were going to change very quickly.  
Shuri ushered him quickly past a number of interesting projects that Peter probably could have spent his entire working life analysing, and then stopped when they reached a large object covered in a large, scratchy fabric that looked 14 inches thick.

"Half a meter of fat blond tapestry. That's how much this baby needs to be properly incubated.", said Shuri, looking at Peter.  
"What's under there?" said Peter, turning slowly to face her.  
The princess quirked an eyebrow (a very nicely shaped eyebrow, Peter thought), teasingly, and said, "Pull it off.".  
Peter stopped. "The blanket?, he asked hesitantly.  
Shuri rolled her eyes.  
"No dingus," she said. "The giant invisible jet on top of it. Yes, the blanket!"  
"How heavy is that thing?" Peter asked, trying for a joking tone. "It looks massive!".  
"It's about four hundred kilograms.", Shuri said.

Peter hesitated, trying to mentally put the weight into tonnes. Tony Stark had told him during their briefing to "keep the powers on the down-low", by which Peter assumed that he meant to lie about being Spiderman to everyone and everybody. Peter didn't know how long that it would last, though. T'Challa had seen Spiderman in Berlin, and Peter was sure that the King could match a voice to a face relatively easily. 

Once he gave up on trying to calculate the weight in tonnes, Peter decided against asking Shuri for the translated weight (too embarrassing- if she felt comfortable enough to call him a dingus now, what would she say when she realised that he stubbornly stuck to the irrational American numbers that he had grown up with?), and decided to wing it. Yeah, he had super strength, but Peter could make it reasonably seem like he was struggling. Right? 

Peter squared his shoulders, strode over to the structure, planted his feet, and stopped when he saw Shuri staring at him, giggling at what seemed to be his expense. "What?", Peter said.  
"Nothing,", said Shuri, but continued to smile . Peter grinned awkwardly, and quickly changed his position. She was probably giggling about his lifting stance. He grabbed the cloth and tore it off easily.  
Underneath the tapestry was a big box containing a small matchbox-sized piece of metal, and a circular piece of metal with a blue dot on it.  
"Do you know what this is?" asked Shuri from behind him. Peter shook his head. "This,"- here she pointed to the small metal rectangle- "is our transportation device. Scaled down, obviously, with a little help from Pym particles to become more transportable. But this;" here she picked up the circular piece of metal and slowly, unconsciously shook as she held it up in front of her "is going to help us scale it up. This is from the Pym labs-".  
"Has Dr Hank Pym been in touch with Wakanda?" Peter blurted, knitting his brows. Shuri shifted uncomfortably, moved as to speak, then composed herself, laughed, and said "Well. You could say Wakanda was in touch with _him_."


	6. The one where Shuri freaks out.

# SHURI III

Before Peter could interject and nose about any further, Shuri threw the thin, circular slice of metal at the matchbox-sized mesh of vibranium, and covered her face by criss-crossing her arms. With a PooF, the matchbox expanded in the blink of an eye to a hunk of metal the size of a mattress, knocking Peter away, and leaving him gasping for air on his back, crab style. Shuri tried to suppress a quick smirk that had unbiddingly crept up on her as she saw this new kid get hit. Shuri couldn't help it- even in her own backyard, she was competitive about her work. She composed herself, and went over to help him up.  
"Sorry,", she said. "Should have warned you.".  
As Peter got back on his feet, gazing at the machine in front of him, Shuri stepped back, analysing the situation. She had giggled earlier because the thought of this guy as a fish out of water had, for some reason, tickled her funny bone. The events following were… interesting. No normal human teenager should have been able to lift up that much weight that easily, nor should he have been able to be hit by the weight of the expanding transportation device without having had a few ribs crushed, at least. Something was up. Did he have a charge absorbent vest on? If so, why? Did Tony Stark think that his protejé would get attacked in Wakanda?  
Shuri sighed, annoyed. She hated the preconceptions of Wakanda as a wartorn country, even if her own father had encouraged them. It felt demeaning, all of these important, first-world leaders at the United Nations meetings congratulating themselves for just being in the same room as these poor farmers from "Africa". It seemed that every chance they could get, they would make snide remarks to Shuri's family and anyone that they were with, almost like they were patting the heads of the Wakandan leaders as if they were children, seemingly saying: Don't worry. You'll catch up.  
But for the earlier question. How had he been able to lift 400 kgs so easily? Did he have some kind of training? Was he an agent from Stark? What ulterior motives could he have? Stark was a “superhero”, however recently he had decided to back a governmental system called “The Sokovia Accords”, which would essentially reign in his power. T´Challa had supported him, but who knows what might have changed since then! American entrepreneurs were notoriously fickle and eccentric, especially those born into money, like Stark was. Shuri had to be careful. 

She decided quickly to just go along with whatever curiosity Peter had, while feeding him as little information as possible. She had gotten ahead of herself, and if this boy wasn’t who he seemed, then all of Wakanda might have to suffer from her naïvete. Wakanda had suffered enough. 

Peter, his interest piqued, was circling around the machine like a vulture, examining it from all sides. Shuri smiled bitterly. A bit late to feed him as little information as possible. Better to just try and shut down whatever potential security breach she might have caused.  
“This is not really completed, though.”, she said feebly.  
Peter seemed not to care, and then his face lit up.  
“Do you think-”, he started, sheepishly, “I mean, if you need to complete it, I would love to help. Mr Stark said that we’d be here for a wee-”  
“A week is plenty of time!”, said Shuri, angry at herself for breaching protocol, and trying to keep it together. “It is not done. Let’s move on. It will be dinner time soon”.  
Shuri turned, and started to walk back when she realized that Peter wasn’t following her. She looked back, annoyed and ready to bite his head off.  
“Well?” she demanded. “Let’s move on!”

That night, Mr Stark and his associates were invited to dine with the royal family. An hour before that though, and shortly after blowing her top off at Peter Parker, Shuri had gotten Okoye to personally assist Peter back to his room to get ready. Really, Shuri just needed time to process what she had seen properly, and to evaluate her reaction. It had taken four fully grown men in perfect shape to lift the full sized transportation device, whereas this strange nerdy white kid from America seemed to lift it up without a second thought. What did it really mean? 

Shuri mused over this as she walked to her room to get ready for dinner. Although it was considered “proper” to change clothing for dinner, to the annoyance of her mother she rarely did so. But with guests, especially foreign ones, Shuri felt she should make an effort. Shuri’s room was quite near to the lab, due to the pleading of her mother that she “should sleep in a real bed, instead of collapsing next to your inventions every night”, however (as exemplified by that morning), Shuri still managed to forget about anything other than the numbers swirling in her head, and worked until she dropped off completely. She was aware it was a horrible sleep pattern, however, as much as she tried to be strict with herself, it still happened. Maybe that was why she was a bit sloppy with the protocol. She was tired. 

Shuri frowned, and walked into and across her room to face a hanging mirror on the far wall. She peered into it, deciding the appropriate attire for dinner. Her shirt was all stained from the oil she had splashed on it earlier in the lab, and she needed to change it.  
Shuri turned forty-five degrees on her heel to face the clothes rack sticking out from her dusty red wall, and examined the items of dress suspended there. What was the best option for a high class dinner with some possibly untruthful American business associates? 

Two hours later, Shuri entered the dinner room. This time, she was early.


	7. Spluttering can be an art form.

# PETER IV 

Peter entered the dining room in his suit from his homecoming party, feeling ridiculously overdressed but unsure as to what the etiquette was. He didn’t have a lot of experience dining with nobles.   
At the shiny wood and bronze table in the centre of the room sat the king, T’Challa, on a dark chair that resembled a throne, with Tony sitting across from him lounging on his chair in that particular Stark way that showed no obvious disrespect, but also owned the room by his charismatic presence. T’Challa was by no means drowning in his throne and matching dark robes- in fact, his relaxed yet stern posture would definitely have dominated the space had Tony not been there. As it was, they seemed like rough equals, albeit with T’Challa seeming much more polished and connected with his world than Stark.   
But Peter barely had time to note that down when his eyes were drawn to the person seated beside the king. As she lowered her eyes to meet his, Peter felt a jolt travel through his body- it was Shuri, the king's sister from the lab. 

She had cleaned herself up quite a bit since then, her clean, straight clothing having scarcely a wrinkle in sight. She was wearing a form fitting sheath dress with strips of fabric encircling her arms- one on either side- with dark red or purple squares punched into the fabric. Her hair was unbraided, and pulled back into two fluffy, spongy buns on either side of her head. Around her wrists were two bracelets, one a carved wooden circlet, and the other dark grey beads that seemed to attach to each other by a strange magnetic force.   
Peter stumbled, and felt everybody’s eyes on him. 

“Hey kiddo! How’s gravity today?” smirked Tony, as he gestured for Peter to seat himself. Peter nodded stiffly, turned his cheek and smiled awkwardly as he tried to ignore Shuri’s dark eyes branding themselves into the side of his head.   
“Is he usually this quiet?” asked the king sitting opposite them, smiling at Stark questioningly.   
“No, usually I can’t get him to shut up! We would have come to Wakanda a long time ago if I knew that was all that it took to get him to quiet down,” joked Tony. 

Peter shook his head, trying to shake himself out of the stupor he had been trapped in, and apologized.  
“Sorry sir- king- YOUR HIGHNESS!!!” he directed towards T’Challa.   
“See- this is why I haven’t spoken.” said Peter, his eyes fluttering down, trying to laugh it off, “I have no powers of diplomacy.”   
“It is fine- you make no offence. Shuri is having diplomacy lessons currently- and it is no easy thing to do, as I’m sure you would know once you have met her.” the King said with a teasing smile and side eye at his sister. Shuri lost no time punching his arm. Not very subtly, either.   
“Brother, you know I am perfectly able!” she said, sulking slightly. “I think it is you who must take diplomacy lessons if you bore our guests with your tall tales.”  
“What tall tales Shuri?” smirked T’Challa. “All my teachers loved me.”

Shuri opened her mouth as if to argue more, but stopped after having what looked like an internal war with herself. Peter got the feeling that, if she had the chance, she would pay out her brother for the rest of time. Instead, she just crossed her arms and snuck stares at Peter. 

“Well,” said Tony, easing up in his chair, “I think I know what to do with Parker now.”  
Peter looked at Tony, dumbfounded.   
“You didn’t know what to do with me before? Why did I come then?” said Peter, confused and feeling, yet again, stupid.   
“Well,” said Tony, “I thought that you might want to go to the tech capital of the world. Right?”  
Stark looked at him apprehensively as Peter started to splutter about school, and then quieting down. He should really stop digging himself holes.   
“I was thinking,” continued Tony, firmly, “that you might want to go sightseeing, but if you feel like it’s too much of a burden to be a tourist in Wakanda rather than studying for maths tests in America, you’re welcome to go home. Of course, Happy already had the plane flown back, and it might slightly violate the terms of your hastily put-together visa, but if you wanna study, I won’t stop you.”

T’Challa looked across to both of them with a raised eyebrow and a little smirk, amused.   
“I have a great idea,” he started, “if Peter should have to miss his education by coming here, I think we ought to… help you out. You can join Shuri at diplomacy classes!”  
Peter’s mind went blank as he struggled to find the right words to say ‘no, actually, she scares me’, but before he could dig himself a mineshaft sized hole, Shuri spoke up- rather loudly.   
“Brother, I don’t think that it is very….” (here she caught his eye) “good solution. He will never use diplomacy.”  
Here T’Challa laughed. “Maybe Mr Parker does not need to learn diplomacy because he is already skilled in that area, eh? I think you could probably use lessons from him.”  
T’Challa nudged Shuri in the shoulder while she grumbled yet again, and Peter felt this emptiness while looking at them together, so happy. Peter had never had a sister, brother, or anybody to call family besides Aunt May… and Uncle Ben. There was this void that Peter could feel sometimes, just pulling at him- as if he would never find anybody who understood him half as much as the siblings in front of him. 

Before Peter could dwell too much on the various “What-If’s” of life, the dinner came out, stealing his attention away from that small polish spot on the table underneath him. While digging into the vegetable Pilau, Peter nodded and shook his head and reacted accordingly to the conversation around him. Before he knew it, he had a new itinerary for the week- and he would spend all his time with the scary Princess. 

Oh, joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry I took so long to update this- procrastination seems to be a permanent fixture in my life nowadays. Anyway, while uploading this I took the chance to edit the first chapter, because when I read back through it, it seemed a little long and wordy. I did promise myself not to touch anything once it had been uploaded so I'll try not to do it again, but I apologise in advance. What stupid idiot thought that it would be a great idea to write without any plan or overview of any kind?   
> Right. Me. 
> 
> URRRGHHHHHH.


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